Volume XII, Issue 1
Introduction: Making Space for Literature Amidst Mandates

This issue of WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom presents a collection of articles centered on the theme “Making Space for Literature Amidst Mandates.” Teacher educators, a classroom teacher, and a librarian from diverse school communities share their experiences of navigating institutional expectations while remaining committed to meaningful, literature-rich teaching practices.

Throughout these articles, we identify the complex power structures within which educators carry out their work; structures that often dictate what and how they are expected to teach. Yet, the authors in this issue demonstrate how teaching is an act of negotiation, resistance, and resilience. As Johnson and Freedman (2006) remind us, “When teachers decide to embrace a critical pedagogy, they are deciding to bring a questioning stance into their classroom” (p. 16). This issue underscores how critical pedagogical stances allow educators to prioritize student-centered learning, even within systems of constraint. The classrooms highlighted in this issue emerge as spaces of resilience, rooted in teachers’ trust in their students, the insights and cultural knowledge students bring, and the shared validation among teachers through collaborative reflection.

Most importantly, these narratives illuminate the enduring power of children’s literature as a medium for authentic engagement and resistance that uplifts communities rather than jeopardizes them.

In the first two vignettes, Rosalia Pacheco and Carolyn Cort showcase the powerful and resilient voices of preservice teachers shaped through university preparation programs. Rosalia’s reflection draws on her identity as a Latina woman and storyteller, illustrating how her cultural background supports her efforts to engage students in culturally responsive literacy practices. Her preservice teachers demonstrate courage and agency as they incorporate their heritage languages in classroom practices despite curriculum mandates focused on the Science of Reading.

Carolyn Cort’s article shares her experiences applying the Science of Reading while reframing Florida’s Reading Initiative (FRI). She examines how she integrates key components—reading comprehension, language, knowledge, metacognition, and fluency—with children’s literature in her comprehensive literacy course. Carolyn challenges the binary of science versus literature, instead inviting readers to envision a shared goal of developing skilled, engaged, and critical readers. Her article presents preservice teachers’ reflections on the intersection of evidence-based reading instruction and literature-rich learning environments.

The third article by Jacqueline Gale focuses on her Title I high school classroom, where many of her students identify as Latinx or as refugees from Africa and the Middle East. Jacqueline’s commitment to culturally sustaining pedagogy is exemplified in her decision to teach banned books like The Kite Runner. Her story speaks to the heart of this issue’s theme—making space for literature even when it is contested and reflects the risks and rewards of honoring students’ literary needs amidst mandates.

In the fourth article, Dorea Kleker, Narges Zandi, and Kathy Short highlight a teacher-led inquiry group at a bilingual school, which explores themes of immigration and refugee experiences. The group creates a courageous space where teachers learn from one another’s rich responses to their inquiry questions, collectively challenging restrictive narratives.

Finally, this issue continues the WOW Visual Stories feature, launched last fall, with a new contribution from school librarian, Mary Jade Haney. Through her visual storytelling, Mary Jade shares dynamic examples of collaborative literacy initiatives including student-organized library events, writing workshops, and interdisciplinary summer camps. Her work highlights the essential role of librarians in promoting culturally relevant literacy and building bridges between schools, families, and communities.

Across all these contributions, a consistent theme that emerges is teacher educators, teachers, and librarians are creating space, despite mandates, for literature to thrive.

They recognize and nurture teachers’ and students’ cultural backgrounds and voices, positioning literature not as an add-on, but as an integral part of learning. As this issue reminds us, the work of teaching is never neutral (Freire, 2005). It may be influenced by constraints, but it is also shaped by courage. Literature remains a powerful tool for fostering critical engagement, building community, and envisioning more just educational spaces.

Reference

Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniversary Edition). New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group

Johnson, H., & Freedman, L. (2005). Developing critical awareness at the middle level: Using texts as tools for critique and pleasure. International Reading Association.

Yoo Kyung Sung, Lead editor

Julia López-Robertson, Co-editor

© 2025 Yoo Kyung Sung and Julia López-Robertson

Authors retain copyright over the vignettes published in this journal and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the following Creative Commons License:

WOW Stories, Volume XII, Issue 1 by Worlds of Words is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on work by Yoo Kyung Sung and Julia López-Robertson at https://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/xii-1/2.

WOW stories: connections from the classroom
ISSN 2577-0551